Of the Origin of Governmentby David HumeMan born in a family, is compelled to maintain society, fromnecessity, from natural inclination, and from habit. The samecreature, in his farther progress, is engaged to establishpolitical society, in order to administer justice; without whichthere can be no peace among them, nor safety, nor mutualintercourse. We are, therefore, to look upon all the vastapparatus of our government, as having ultimately no other objector purpose but the distribution of justice, or, in other words,the support of the twelve judges. Kings and parliaments, fleetsand armies, officers of the court and revenue, ambassadors,ministers, and privy-counsellors, are all subordinate
Man and SupermanA COMEDY AND A PHILOSOPHYBy George Bernard ShawEPISTLE DEDICATORY TO ARTHUR BINGHAM WALKLEYMy dear Walkley:You once asked me why I did not write a Don Juan play. The levitywith which you assumed this frightful responsibility has probablyby this time enabled you to forget it; but the day of reckoninghas arrived: here is your play! I say your play, because quifacit per alium facit per se. Its profits, like its labor, belongto me: its morals, its manners, its philosophy, its influence onthe young, are for you to justify. You were of mature age whenyou made the suggestion; and you knew your man. It is hardlyfifteen years since, as twin pioneers of the New Journalism of...
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE ELFIN HILLby Hans Christian AndersenA FEW large lizards were running nimbly about in the clefts ofan old tree; they could understand one another very well, for theyspoke the lizard language."What a buzzing and a rumbling there is in the elfin hill," saidone of the lizards; "I have not been able to close my eyes for twonights on account of the noise; I might just as well have had thetoothache, for that always keeps me awake.""There is something going on within there," said the other lizard;"they propped up the top of the hill with four red posts, till...
410 BCIPHIGENIA IN TAURISby Euripidestranslated by Robert PotterCHARACTERS IN THE PLAYIPHIGENIA, daughter of AgamemnonORESTES, brother of IPHIGENIAPYLADES, friend Of ORESTESTHOAS, King of the TauriansHERDSMANMESSENGERMINERVACHORUS OF GREEK WOMEN, captives, attendants on IPHIGENIA in thetempleIPHIGENIA IN TAURIS(SCENE:-Before the great temple of Diana of the Taurians. A blood-stained altar is prominently in view. IPHIGENIA, clad as apriestess, enters from the temple.)...
Of The Nature of Thingsby Lucretius [Titus Lucretius Carus]Translated by William Ellery LeonardBOOK IPROEMMother of Rome, delight of Gods and men,Dear Venus that beneath the gliding starsMakest to teem the many-voyaged mainAnd fruitful lands- for all of living thingsThrough thee alone are evermore conceived,Through thee are risen to visit the great sun-Before thee, Goddess, and thy coming on,Flee stormy wind and massy cloud away,For thee the daedal Earth bears scented flowers,For thee waters of the unvexed deepSmile, and the hollows of the serene skyGlow with diffused radiance for thee!For soon as comes the springtime face of day,And procreant gales blow from the West unbarred,...
History of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, President of theUnited Statesby Edmund G. RossPREFACE.Little is now known to the general public of the history of the attempt to remove President Andrew Johnson in 1868, on his impeachment by the House of Representatives and trial by the Senate for alleged high crimes and misdemeanors in office, or of the causes that led to it. Yet it was one of the most important and critical events, involving possibly the gravest consequences, in the entire history of the country.The constitutional power to impeach and remove the President had lain dormant since the organization of the Government, and apparently had never been thought of as a means for the sat
The Complete Anglerby Izaak WaltonTo the Right worshipfulJohn Offleyof Madeley Manor, in the County of Stafford Esquire, My most honoured FriendSir, I have made so ill use of your former favours, as by them to be encouraged to entreat, that they may be enlarged to the patronage and protection of this Book: and I have put on a modest confidence, that I shall not be denied, because it is a discourse of Fish and Fishing, which you know so well, and both love and practice so much.You are assured, though there be ignorant men of another belief, that Angling is an Art: and you know that Art better than others; and that this is truth is demonstrated by the fruits of that pleasant labour which you
THE BLACK THIEFAND KNIGHT OF THE GLEN.IN times of yore there was a King and a Queen in the south ofIreland who had three sons, all beautiful children; but theQueen, their mother, sickened unto death when they were yet veryyoung, which caused great grief throughout the Court, particularlyto the King, her husband, who could in no wise be comforted.Seeing that death was drawing near her, she called the King to herand spoke as follows:`I am now going to leave you, and as you are young and inyour prime, of course after my death you will marry again. Nowall the request I ask of you is that you will build a tower in anisland in the sea, wherein you will keep your three sons until they...
The Club of Queer Tradesby G.K.ChestertonChapter 1The Tremendous Adventures of Major BrownRabelais, or his wild illustrator Gustave Dore, must have had something to do with the designing of the things called flats in England and America. There is something entirely Gargantuan in the idea of economising space by piling houses on top of each other, front doors and all. And in the chaos and complexity of those perpendicular streets anything may dwell or happen, and it is in one of them, I believe, that the inquirer may find the offices of the Club of Queer Trades. It may be thought at the first glance that the name would attract and startle the passer-by, but nothing attracts or startles in th
PRINCE DARLINGONCE upon a time there lived a king who was so justand kind that his subjects called him "the Good King."It happened one day, when he was out hunting, that alittle white rabbit, which his dogs were chasing, spranginto his arms for shelter. The King stroked it gently,and said to it:"Well, bunny, as you have come to me for protectionI will see that nobody hurts you."And he took it home to his palace and had it put in apretty little house, with all sorts of nice things to eat.That night, when he was alone in his room, a beautifullady suddenly appeared before him; her long dress wasas white as snow, and she had a crown of white roses upon...
Lecture VIIIThe Growth and Diffusion of Primitive IdeasMr Tylor has justly observed that the true lesson of the newscience of Comparative Mythology is the barrenness in primitivetimes of the faculty which we most associate with mentalfertility, the Imagination. Comparative Jurisprudence, as mightbe expected from the natural stability of law and custom, yetmore strongly suggests the same inference, and points to thefewness of ideas and the slowness of additions to the mentalstock as among the most general characteristics of mankind in itsinfancy.The fact that the generation of new ideas does not proceed in...
THE STARIt was on the first day of the New Year that the announcementwas made, almost simultaneously from three observatories, that themotion of the planet Neptune, the outermost of all the planetsthat wheel about the sun, had become very erratic. Ogilvy hadalready called attention to a suspected retardation in its velocityin December. Such a piece of news was scarcely calculated tointerest a world the greater portion of whose inhabitants wereunaware of the existence of the planet Neptune, nor outside theastronomical profession did the subsequent discovery of a faintremote speck of light in the region of the perturbed planet cause...